Jamie Schneider Domm

Email appending, also known as e-appending, is a marketing practice that involves taking known customer data (first name, last name, and postal address) and matching it against a vendor's database to obtain email addresses (Wikipedia).

This is a surprisingly quick and affordable process. We recommend working with TowerData.com as they have an outstanding reputation and work with large clients like the Smithsonian on a regular basis. Depending on the size of your member list, you can receive your new emails in about two weeks. Their match-rate is around 25% to 30%, which could translate to a significant increase in your email list. The cost is $0.10-$0.12 cents per match.

We strongly encourage all conferences, unions, churches, and ministries to go through this process. And you don’t need us; you can do it on your own, but we are willing to help you as much as you need. Here is how it works, step by step:

Secure any permissions needed from your board or administration. You do not want to violate the trust of your administration or members. We strongly recommend that you be as transparent as possible. It is important that the church gathers email addresses for better communication, but we must also consider how it will be perceived. Member care and expectations should be taken into consideration throughout this process. Ensuring that members have a positive experience with your brand will go a long way in strengthening your relationship with your community.

Export from eAdventist (or whatever database you use) all individual names and addresses of current members into an Excel document. Limit the columns to names and address information only. Do not include additional data. Make sure you exclude children (members under age 18) and inactive or deceased members. It’s important to export each adult’s name separately even if they live at the same address. For example, a married couple with the same postal address listed could potentially result in two email addresses. In order for both emails to get matched, their names and addresses must be listed on separate rows.

Connect with TowerData.org (our department can liaison to help reduce cost) and sign a Terms of Agreement. You can use our modified agreement as a template or you can request more modifications as needed.

Upload your file to the TowerData server, and TowerData.org will match the members with known email addresses. When they have completed the process, you will receive a match report which will detail how many email addresses you can expect. Keep in mind that while Big Data is a powerful tool, you can expect a small margin of error, meaning, you may get a few email addresses for the wrong person. Be prepared to manage a handful of customer service issues. When this happens, simply apologize and immediately remove them from your list.

Provide an email (copy and art) draft that TowerData.org will send to the matched email addresses. This serves as an introduction and approval-to-send request. At this stage, the recipients can opt-out of receiving your emails. Download a sample email below. Feel free to edit this template to best reflect your organization’s purpose.

Once TowerData has cleaned the list, and you have paid, they will send you a final file with the names, addresses, and emails appended. If requested (recommended),TowerData.orgwill delete all your information in their system after 30 days, so make sure to store the list in a safe place where it will not be lost or stolen. Always protect your members information. Connect with your IT department for their recommendations. You should consider deleting the excel file from your records/computer after it has been fully imported into your email software and/or database.

We recommend sending 500-1,000 of your new email addresses another welcome email each week, introducing your organization again and giving them a clear option to opt-out. Then the following week import that segment of emails (who have not opted-out) into your main email list. This can all be done in MailChimp and most email platforms. Depending on how many emails you appended, this may take several months. Be patient and stick with the process and always consider the member experience. If you send all of the new emails a welcome email at once and you get a high number of opt-outs, it may hurt your sending reputation with email service providers. This could limit the deliverability of future emails, sending more of your emails to the junk box and consequently defeating the purpose of the email append.

Collecting email addresses is not enough to ensure better communication with your members; consider letting us review your eNewsletter for content/design optimization. Click here for tips on how to improve the performance of your emails.

Seams like a lot of work to create a mailing list for your church members. Google and Yahoo offer these services for free. Including opt-out, welcome message, bulk add, invitation to join, administrators, etc. Every few years we ask members to update/add their contact information for our member directory.. We simply update the mailing then.